Navigating the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) can be confusing, especially when you’re new to it. To simplify things, let’s meet Emma and how her funding is broken down in NDIS Support Categories.
Emma has an NDIS plan and has a few big goals she wants to achieve. She aims to be more independent at home, participate in community activities, and find a job she loves. Luckily, her NDIS plan is designed to help her meet these goals.
NDIS Support Categories
Like all NDIS plans, Emma’s funding is broken down into the major funding categories of Core Supports, Capacity Building, and Capital Supports.
Within these categories are subcategories specific to Emma’s needs. Let’s look a little closer:
Core Supports: Help for Everyday Living
Core Supports help with day-to-day tasks. Think of these as your basics – what you need to get through each day. This is what Emma’s Core Support funding covers:
Personal Care
One of Emma’s goals is to be more independent at home. For that, she needs some help getting ready in the morning. A support worker assists Emma with showering and dressing, making her morning routine much smoother.
Consumables
Her Core Supports funding also covers all of Emma’s continence products, including all her catheter consumables and delivery costs.
Social and Community Participation
Engaging with her community is important to Emma. She loves attending the local community centre for art lessons, yoga classes and women’s circles. This funding enables her to attend these activities and have a support worker assist her during her visits when she needs it.
Transport
Being out in the community is very important to Emma. Her Transport funding covers the cost of accessible taxis, making community involvement possible.
Capacity Building: Learning and Growing
Emma has bigger dreams, too, and Capacity Building helps her realise them.
Improved Health and Wellbeing
Getting healthier is one of Emma’s goals; her funding allows dietician and exercise physiologist support to plan meals and create a personal training plan.
Skill Development
Emma’s goal to get healthier also sees a support worker visit her weekly to teach her cooking skills so she doesn’t have to rely on prepared meals.
Finding and Keeping a Job
Emma dreams of working in the women’s health and wellness space. Her Capacity Building funding includes a job coach who helps her with resume writing and interview skills.
Support Coordination
As this is Emma’s first plan, and she feels a little unsure about coordinating all her supports, she has Support Coordination to help her build her capacity to manage her next plan independently.
Plan Management – Improved Life Choices
Emma also chose to have her funds ‘Plan Managed’. A financial intermediary pays all her NDIS service providers and invoices, and Emma doesn’t have to worry about doing any accounting admin.
Another bonus for Emma is that Plan Management means she can choose mainstream support services instead of only engaging NDIS-registered providers.
Capital Supports: Big Items and Changes at Home
Emma has Capital Supports in her plan to help her reach her goal of getting ready in the morning without the assistance of a Support Worker.
Home Modifications
To make her home safer and more accessible, Emma has had a ramp installed at the front and back doors. She has also had grip bars and a wider toilet door installed, but her ultimate goal is to remodel her bathroom so she can be independent enough not to need her support worker’s help with her morning routine.
Her Support Coordinator is helping her organise this.
Tying It All Back to Goals
Every part of Emma’s NDIS plan is designed to help her reach her goals. Whether it’s gaining independence, connecting with her community, or finding a job, her support is tailored to set her on the path to success.
Emma’s story is a great example of how NDIS funding categories can align with your personal goals to offer a comprehensive support system.
So, when you look at your NDIS plan, remember that each part is a tool designed to improve your life.
Emma’s example doesn’t cover every category, but it gives you a good idea of what can be achieved with a well designed plan.
If you want help to understand your plan, CoAbility’s Support Coordinators are NDIS experts. Email hello@coability.com.au or call 1800 262 245 to speak with one of our experts.
